Participants
Everyone the recording shows taking part or being named. Names follow the project's dialogue file and the 2015 to 2023 roster; no minutes are online to check spellings against. Where the dialogue file says Unidentified, this page does too.
| Name | Role | Participation |
|---|
| Frank Sprague | Chair | Presided; framed the funding presentation as a board goal; proposed another retreat and said prospective state representatives should be brought in, adding "if they aren't, you're out"; asked for a record of what the final budget actually cut; tabled the cell phone discussion. |
| Rebecca Zullo | Vice chair | Asked the attorneys about plaintiffs and a warrant article; led the review of the April 22 retreat and the board's three goals. |
| Jason Benware | Member | Put the cell phone policy on the agenda and read it aloud; asked whether a member could post for the board on a local social media site; described the budget advisory committee. |
| Michelle Pierce | Member | Asked for another retreat date; pressed on students without phones or home internet; asked why candidates were not invited to a board meeting this year. |
| Carolyn Towle | Member | Reported the retreat's funding subcommittee; asked for line-item staffing detail and a standing list of budget questions; relayed seniors' views on phones. |
| Steven Horsky | Member | Answered the roll; one attributed row (a question on the adult education graduation time). A member noted at the end that it was "the first time you've spoken" as the adjournment was moved. |
| Michael Petrin | Member | Expected to be late; no identified speech. Attendance not established. |
| Unidentified | Board member (Speaker 21) | A member's voice the attribution report could not place; it suggests Petrin as a low-confidence possibility only. |
| Lexi Grenier | Student representative (spelling per dialogue file; unverified) | Student report; corrected the agenda wording to "National Honor Society"; recognized by the principal. |
| Middleton McGoodwin | Superintendent, SAU 6 | Report; school climate and civility; clarified the board's budget role; offered to email agendas to about 2,300 people; presented the resignations and the gift. |
| Cory LeClair | Assistant Superintendent, SAU 6 | Community engagement grant and vision; kindergarten registration; how a board social media page would be held by the district. |
| Michael O'Neill | Business Administrator, SAU 6 (surname per roster) | Investment policy DFA; FY18 expenditure report; transfer policy DBJ; offered monthly expense reports. |
| Patricia (Pat) Barry | Principal, Stevens High School | Spoke at citizens' comments to recognize the student representative; answered at length on cell phones. |
| Karen Collison | National Honor Society advisor (spelling unverified) | Presented the entryway landscaping plan (about $2,000) and the Shantytown overnight. |
| Tom Connor | Claremont attorney | Introduced the school-funding presentation and the history of the Claremont litigation. |
| John Tobin | Attorney, school-funding litigation | Described what a new lawsuit would need: lawyers, cost experts and plaintiffs; said boards might later be asked for money. |
| Mary Woodman | Clerk | Called the roll. |
| Unidentified | Various | Motions, seconds, ayes and interjections from several voices. 262 of 1,100 rows (23.8%) are Unidentified. |
Order of business (reconstructed)
No agenda for this meeting is posted in any district share, so this list is reconstructed from the chair's transitions on the recording. A written agenda with Roman-numeral and lettered items existed. Hover over (or Tab to) a clipped entry for the full text.
| Taken up | Item | Agenda text / disposition |
|---|
| 0:01:11 | Call to order, pledge, roll | See Board composition above. |
| 0:02:15 | Agenda | National Honor Society items (Roman numeral seven A and B) moved forward (0:02:29); donations added under action items at the superintendent's request (0:03:06); wording corrected by the student representative (0:03:39). Voice vote at 0:03:57; mover and seconder not identified. |
| 0:03:57 | Minutes | Date garbled in the transcript. Voice vote at 0:04:15. |
| 0:04:20 | Student representative's report | Informational. |
| 0:07:27 | Superintendent's report | Informational; questions at 0:15:17. |
| 0:16:32 | National Honor Society: landscaping plan; Shantytown | Landscaping plan by Lee Stevens, about $2,000, linked by the superintendent to a Class of 2017 donation: motion at 0:18:43 (unidentified mover and seconder), voice vote at 0:19:07. Shantytown overnight: Zullo's motion at 0:23:13, seconded, voice vote at 0:23:18. |
| 0:23:26 | Citizens' comments | Principal Barry on the student representative. Closed at 0:28:42. |
| 0:28:42 | Discussion: school funding (Claremont litigation) | Presentation by Tom Connor and John Tobin; questions; chair proposes a retreat (1:19:10). No vote. Item B, a June 13 funding discussion in Pittsfield, mentioned by the superintendent. |
| 1:28:24 | Review of investment policy DFA | Annual review; no action. |
| 1:30:23 | Review of FY18 expenditures and revenue | Informational; members to send questions for the next agenda. |
| 1:35:01 | School climate and civility | Superintendent's update. Informational. |
| 1:43:05 | Cell phones (policy as transcribed e.g. a in e.g. a R) | Discussion; tabled by the chair at 2:18:28; no vote. |
| 2:22:15 | Item G: review of the April 22 retreat | Retreat notes and minutes in the packet. Informal consensus on agenda emailing (2:50:11); items referred to the policy subcommittee. No recorded votes. |
| 2:52:21 | Community engagement vision | Informational. |
| 3:04:46 | Action items | Use of district assets by board members (laptop forms). Resignations of Paulette Fitzgerald and Nancy Morrow: moved at 3:05:43, seconded at 3:05:47, voice vote at 3:06:01. Class of 1968 gift of $15,000 ($10,000 music, $5,000 landscaping): moved at 3:06:43, seconded at 3:06:48, voice vote at 3:07:05. |
| 3:10:18 | Adjournment | Moved (addressed to Steve) and seconded; voice vote at 3:10:26. |
Discussion timeline
Chronological, from the dialogue CSV. Times are the start of the cited exchange, taken from the CSV's own second count. Hover over (or Tab to) a clipped cell for the full entry.
| Time | Topic | What was said | Flags |
|---|
| 0:01:57 | Roll call | "Jason Bentley here. Steven. Here." The clerk at 0:02:02: "Michelle. Michael. Patron." Chair: "Mike is going to be late. I just remember he told me that." | OBSERVATION |
| 0:03:06 | Donations added to the agenda | Superintendent: "there are some donations that are going to be discussed tonight. So I would like to be able to add those to the agenda as well under action items." | MEDIUM |
| 0:07:27 | Superintendent's report | CMS principal search: "the first meeting in June, I will present the nomination". At 0:12:31, quoting a Keene board member: "we consistently have one of the top five tax rates in the state". At 0:13:07: "we cannot continue to go forward the way we have with declining state aid and the burden being put on the resident paying real estate." | |
| 0:17:42 | Landscaping plan; Shantytown | "We're told I need to get it approved by the school board, so here it is." Cost at 0:17:56: $2,000. Shantytown at 0:19:12; funds raised go "for the soup kitchen for local charities and for our own, national dues" (0:22:23). | |
| 0:23:42 | Principal recognizes the student representative | "we would like to recommend Lexi Grenier as our candidate for recognition at the Women Who Make a Difference luncheon." Grenier at 0:28:38: "I didn't want to talk about it because I was gonna cry again." | |
| 0:28:42 | Board goal: school funding | Chair: "one of our goals was to begin as fast as we could, some action toward Claremont three or whatever is necessary to try to address school funding." At 0:29:31: he invited the attorneys to give "maybe some advice on next steps." | |
| 0:31:59 | Connor on the Claremont cases | "March 1989, it was this body, different faces, but this body that voted to say, hey, look, education isn't just a nice thing to have." At 0:35:35: "This is precisely the kind of taxation and fiscal mischief from which the framers of our state constitution Constitution took strong steps to protect our citizens against." | |
| 0:51:24 | Tobin on a new case | "so far the cavalry is me. And that's not enough." "We need a team of lawyers." At 0:52:58: "maybe the ideal plaintiff would be someone who's a parent and a homeowner and taxpayer". At 0:56:04: "I want to put you on notice that we might have to do that" [ask school boards for money]. | |
| 1:08:58 | Members' questions | Zullo on plaintiffs; at 1:10:02 on "putting something on a warrant article". Towle at 1:10:52: "We have just developed part of our goal session retreat. A subcommittee, for this effort". | OBSERVATION |
| 1:19:10 | Chair on a retreat and on state representatives | "get together for another retreat and come up with, a plan of attack." At 1:19:40: "make sure that prospective candidates for state representation for us come here and hear us" and "I don't have any confidence that our reps are voting in our communities best interest." At 1:20:09: "if they aren't, you're out and we'll get someone in who will." | OBSERVATION |
| 1:20:20 | Posting for the board online | Benware asked "if it would be okay with the board if one of us were to put something on that site and spoke for the board". Chair at 1:20:53: "Go in and watch the tape on channel eight or channel ten". | |
| 1:28:49 | Investment policy | "we have severely lax in doing that for the school board, for the school board to look at". At 1:29:47: "the money is left to Claremont Savings and either a savings or checking account." | |
| 1:30:39 | FY18 expenditure report | Administrative salaries are in the report, "They're just not detailed by individual." Towle at 1:32:39: "each board member have a list of their questions". Chair at 1:34:43: asking in the meeting educates the public. | POSITIVE |
| 1:35:09 | School climate and civility | "I am continuously being reminded of certain indicators. And it's been it's been troubling." At 1:36:17: "I'm going to talk about civility, how we treat each other." | |
| 1:43:05 | Cell phone policy | Superintendent: Benware "was very interested in having this discussion." Benware at 1:47:42 reads the rule: a phone that goes off in class, "it's going to be taken by the teacher and turned into an administrator." Barry at 2:01:21: "some of our students are addicted to these devices". Pierce at 2:05:26: "we're not being fair to everyone." Chair at 2:18:28: "Table this for now." | |
| 2:22:24 | Retreat review | "A review of your retreat of April 22nd." At 2:22:37: "the minutes are included." Zullo at 2:28:52: amend the public participation policy "to reflect on what we decided on as a board"; at 2:29:13: "we chose three minutes and two minutes." | OBSERVATION |
| 2:29:20 | Annual district report | "We just want to make sure that it's on the website." Superintendent at 2:31:18: emailing it "to all of our parents and staff". | POSITIVE |
| 2:31:58 | Budget transfers | "set a limit of 5000 for school board to be notified of budget line transfers." O'Neill at 2:32:22, reading policy DBJ: "the superintendent is authorized to transfer funds between items when necessary to achieve board policy goals". At 2:32:42: "we need to adjust that policy." | |
| 2:34:11 | Time limits; meeting at the high school | "we have given ourselves a time limit of ten minutes" for questions (2:34:30). At 2:35:59: "having our board meetings at the high school potentially next year". At 2:36:27: "We got four." Benware: "That was highly disappointing." | |
| 2:37:01 | Expense reports | "we are requesting that those can be shared with the school board quarterly." O'Neill at 2:37:15: "maybe even doing it monthly". Chair at 2:39:12: "We don't know as a board what actually was" cut. | POSITIVE |
| 2:42:12 | Board goals | Goal one actions include "develop a funding crisis committee" and "Establish a budget advisory committee comprised of school board members, administration and community members" (2:42:38). Benware at 2:43:10: "We had we had developed one in that meeting. There was, it was you and I and Caroline." | OBSERVATION |
| 2:47:09 | Communication goal; agendas by email | "We will post detailed school board agendas in print publication and on the website." Superintendent at 2:49:48: "I could email the agenda to 2300 people. Absolutely." Chair at 2:50:11: "Any objections to that? Okay. Great." | POSITIVE |
| 2:50:55 | Exit surveys | LeClair: "There was a two year lapse." Superintendent at 2:51:02: "Every employee who leaves is sent an electronic request to complete a survey." | |
| 2:55:43 | Candidates forum | "audience members, members of our community came out and generated their questions for candidates for the school board". At 3:00:35: "The school board didn't initiate that this year." | |
| 3:05:31 | Resignations | "Mrs. Nancy Morrow is resigning and is moving to Kentucky." Motion at 3:05:43: "I move that we accept those two resignations." | |
| 3:06:15 | Class of 1968 gift | "The class of 1968 would like to donate the following and amount of money, a total of $15,000. They would like to donate $10,000 to the music program. And they would like to donate $5,000 to landscaping in the front of Stevens High School." Accepted by voice at 3:07:05. | MEDIUM |
| 3:09:22 | Board social media page | The page "would be set up under the, authority, for lack of a better term, of the school district". Zullo at 3:10:08: "So for informational purposes only, no dialog." | |
Items flagged for review
Flags are a reviewer's aid generated by comparing the meeting against the law in force on May 16, 2018, cited as it then read. They are not findings of violation, and nothing here is legal advice. Where no verified rule applies, the flag says so and is recorded as an observation. 5 flags follow, ordered by severity.
MEDIUM A $15,000 gift, added to the agenda that night, was accepted with no public hearing mentioned
At the start of the meeting the superintendent asked to add "some donations that are going to be discussed tonight" to the action items (0:03:06). At the end he presented the Class of 1968's gift, "a total of $15,000", $10,000 for music and $5,000 for landscaping (3:06:15), and the board accepted it on a motion, a second and a voice vote (3:06:43 to 3:07:05). RSA 198:20-b, as it read in 2018, let a school board accept unanticipated money "from a state, federal or other governmental unit or a private source" during the year if the district had adopted the enabling article, and provided in III(a): "For unanticipated funds in the amount of $5,000 or more, the school board shall hold a prior public hearing", with notice of its time, place and subject published in a newspaper at least 7 days before. No hearing is mentioned on the recording, and an item added to the agenda the same evening could not have carried a 7-day notice. Graded MEDIUM rather than HIGH because a separately noticed hearing cannot be ruled out without the notices and minutes, none of which are online. Four months later the same board accepted another $15,000 gift before its hearing, and staff caught the sequence that night (September 19, 2018 page; corrected at the October 3, 2018 meeting).
Sources: RSA 198:20-b, I and III(a) (2017 codification; source note ends 2005, 188:1, eff. Aug. 29, 2005, so the text in force on this date).
OBSERVATION The board's goals, a funding committee and new meeting rules came out of an April 22 retreat that was minuted but is not in the public record
The superintendent told the board its packet contained "A review of your retreat of April 22nd" and that "the minutes are included" (2:22:24, 2:22:37). The review shows the retreat set the board's three goals, a $5,000 threshold for notice of budget transfers, time limits for presentations and questions, and the citizens'-comment limits (2:29:13, 2:31:58, 2:34:11), and that a funding committee was formed there: "it was you and I and Caroline" (2:43:10; Towle at 1:10:52). RSA 91-A:2, as in force throughout 2018, treats the convening of a quorum to discuss or act on board business as a meeting requiring notice and minutes, and RSA 91-A:1-a, VI(d) makes "any committee, subcommittee, or subordinate body thereof, or advisory committee thereto" a public body with the same duties. The retreat's minutes existed; neither they, any notice, nor any record of the funding committee's later meetings is online, and the retreat was not televised. Recorded as an observation because the retreat's notice cannot be checked from here.
Sources: RSA 91-A:2, I and II (2017 codification); RSA 91-A:1-a, VI(d) (2019 codification; source note ends 2008, 354:1).
OBSERVATION The chair used the meeting to say sitting state representatives should be replaced; the electioneering statute does not reach elected board members
Closing the funding item, the chair said he had no "confidence that our reps are voting in our communities best interest" and "if they aren't, you're out and we'll get someone in who will" (1:19:40, 1:20:09), and proposed inviting prospective candidates to the board. RSA 659:44-a, in force from January 1, 2017, bars a "public employee, as defined in RSA 273-A:1, IX" from electioneering in the performance of official duties, and RSA 273-A:1, IX excludes "Persons elected by popular vote". An elected board chair is therefore outside that prohibition, and the remark was not tied to a named candidate. Recorded because it is the kind of statement from the chair of a nonpartisan public body that readers may want to weigh; no violation is suggested.
Sources: RSA 659:44-a, I and III (2019 codification; source note ends 2016, 176:1, eff. Jan. 1, 2017); RSA 273-A:1, IX(a) (2019 codification; source note ends 2014).
OBSERVATION No agenda, packet or minutes online; one member's attendance and most movers and seconders cannot be read from the recording
MAP.md section 68 records that neither district Drive share holds anything older than 2022 (checked 9/26/26). That is a limit of what the district posts online, not by itself evidence that records were never made: the June 6 recording shows these minutes approved. The loss matters because the chair said Michael Petrin would be late (0:02:04) and no later arrival or speech by him can be identified, and because most motions and seconds tonight, including those on the landscaping plan and the $15,000 gift, come from voices the dialogue file leaves Unidentified. RSA 91-A:2, II, as it read in 2018, required minutes to include "the names of members, persons appearing before the public bodies, and a brief description of the subject matter discussed and final decisions", open to inspection within 5 business days; the mover-and-seconder requirement came later (effective January 1, 2019) and is not applied. The project's missing-records rule is applied on its online-availability limb.
Sources: RSA 91-A:2, II (2017 codification); Input/SupportingDocuments/MAP.md section 68.
POSITIVE The board committed to emailing agendas to families, printing fuller notices, and hearing expense reports in public at regular intervals
Reviewing its retreat, the board agreed that the superintendent would "email the agenda to 2300 people" with no objection (2:49:48, 2:50:11), sought fuller agendas in the printed notice rather than a bare date and time (2:48:15), and asked for the annual district report to be online and emailed (2:29:20, 2:31:18). It asked for expense reports at least quarterly, which the business administrator offered to make monthly (2:37:01, 2:37:15), and members agreed to put their budget questions in the meeting because, in the chair's words, asking in public educates the audience (1:32:39, 1:34:43). RSA 91-A:2, II required only notice posted in two places 24 hours ahead; these steps go beyond that minimum.
Sources: RSA 91-A:2, II (2017 codification): 24-hour notice in 2 places.
Appendix: source files
Official and public sources
- Cablecast show 9790, "SCHOOL BOARD MEETING 5-16": Claremont Community Television. Every timestamp on this page links into this recording.
- No Drive material: neither the Claremont nor the SAU 6 share holds a year folder older than 2022, and the Meeting Minutes share starts at 2023 (MAP.md, checked 9/26/26). No agenda, packet or minutes for this meeting, or for the April 22, 2018 retreat, were located.
- Related pages: Claremont School Board, May 2, 2018; SAU 6 Board, May 10, 2018; Claremont School Board, June 6, 2018 (these minutes approved); September 19, 2018 and October 3, 2018 (a later $15,000 gift and its hearing).
Project files
Working files this page was built from. The dialogue file is linked; the others are not published with the page.
Dialogue/9790 SchoolBoard051618.mp4.CSV (1,100 attributed rows; the basis of this page)Input/Videos/9790 SchoolBoard051618.mp4Input/Transcripts/9790 SchoolBoard051618.mp4.jsonScripts/attribution_reports_2015_2023/9790 SchoolBoard051618.mp4.mdInput/SupportingDocuments/MAP.md, section 68
Laws and rules cited on this page
- New Hampshire statutes, as in force on May 16, 2018. RSA 198:20-b, I and III(a) (unanticipated funds; $5,000 hearing threshold; 2017 codification). RSA 91-A:2, I and II (meeting; notice; minutes; 2017 codification). RSA 91-A:1-a, VI(d) (committees are public bodies; unamended since 2008). RSA 659:44-a (electioneering by public employees; in force from 2017) and RSA 273-A:1, IX (definition of public employee; unamended since 2014).